


fairest one of all

by dahyunayeon



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Blood, F/F, Slight Violence, Snow White AU, barely, jeongyeon sexy evil queen, lil side dubchaeng, mina isn't a dwarf, that movie kinda sucks so lets say this is inspired by twices stage at mubank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25063381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dahyunayeon/pseuds/dahyunayeon
Summary: snow white but take out the dwarfs and the poisoned apple, and add some weapons and a bunch of lesbians
Relationships: Minatozaki Sana/Myoui Mina
Comments: 2
Kudos: 129





	fairest one of all

**Author's Note:**

> i tried to write a fic based on snow white and instead i ended up with whatever this is

Inside the queen’s chambers, Sana  kneels  on the floor scrubbing the tiles until they shine. Her knees and back ache, but she can’t stop until the queen deems the room to be clean enough.  The  cold seeps through the stone walls and into Sana’s bones, so she takes a break from cleaning to rekindle the fireplace. She sits down in front of it, tucks her legs under her body and lets the fire warm her up. 

Sana often gets lost staring into the flames, thinking of a life free of despair. She had that, once, when her mother was still alive and her father wasn’t an alcoholic. But reminiscing those days is becoming harder with the passing of time, so Sana daydreams about a life out of the castle, away from the queen, with someone who truly loves her. 

The doors swing open, queen Jeongyeon strides in and Sana flinches. She immediately gets back on her feet and curtsies, suddenly scared the woman will yell at her for slacking off. But the queen ignores her and goes straight to sit on her vanity. 

“Leave.”

Sana doesn’t wait to be told twice; she hurries to grab the bucket with water and the rag and all but runs out of the room. Jeongyeon watches her through her mirror and rolls her eyes. Once she’s sure Sana is gone, she sets all her attention in the mirror in front of her.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all?” 

The glass of the mirror turns green, as if filled with smoke swirling inside. A deep voice replies “It’s you, your majesty.” Jeongyeon chuckles, her red lips curl into a wicked smile. But the mirror speaks again, and it makes Jeongyeon’s face fall. “But, behold… I see another girl...” 

Jeongyeon slams her hands on the table and stands up, inching closer to the mirror. “Who!?”

“Skin white as snow, hazelnut eyes, and the most perfect nose of all.”

The queen clenches her jaw in anger. There’s one person that fits that description, Jeongyeon has no doubts about it; b ut she refuses to wait with crossed arms and do nothing. 

She storms out of her room and grabs the first guard she sees by the lapel of his clothes.  “Find the best man in your squad and bring him to me.” She pushes the man against a wall, but he quickly scrambles to find the person the queen is asking for. Jeongyeon’s cape flows behind her as she struts and her heels resonate along the empty hallways. 

After a small detour, Jeongyeon arrives at the throne room clutching a piece of canvas in her fist. The guard she requested is already waiting for her, kneeling at the bottom of the stairs leading to the throne. Jeongyeon throws the canvas at him and climbs up the stairs, then sits down. 

He grabs the fabric and smooths it out. His gaze shoots up towards the queen and then back to the canvas. “Your majesty… why did you give me a piece of princess Sana’s portrait?”

“Because you’re gonna get rid of her.” Jeongyeon says nonchalant. The guard gulps and looks at her, confused, but the queen only rolls her eyes. “Is it too hard for you to understand? I don’t care what you do, just make sure she’s gone by tomorrow night.”

The man only nods and curtsies before leaving Jeongyeon alone; he knows better than to question the queen. Outside of the room, he runs his thumb over Sana’s face in the portrait, young and bright. He sobs, scared.

Today, instead of sweeping floors, Sana has to do some laundry. The maids usually do it with water from the well, but Sana likes to use the chore as an excuse to go to the river. She still needs to work, but at least she’s alone and can take all the breaks she wants. 

She walks through a meadow, holding a basket full of dirty aprons against her hip. Her dress keeps getting tangled in the thorns of the plants around her and the sun is hitting the back of her head uncomfortably. Sana sighs when she hears the river, dreading all the work that awaits her.

When she gets there, she sets the basket on top of a rock and kneels down on the bank. The cold water runs through her fingers  as she gathers some to wash her face and wet her hair, hoping it will ease the heat . She ties her hair up in a ponytail and closes her eyes for a second, trying to push past the exhaustion in her body. She takes a deep breath and reaches out to grab the fist apron, but she clumsily pushes the basket into the river and the strong current takes it away. 

If Sana loses those aprons, she won’t hear the end of it and will probably be made to scrub the whole castle, so she desperately starts running alongside the stream, trying to keep an eye on the basket and not trip with a rock at the same time. 

A few meters down the river, Mina is fishing. She’s wearing her purple pants rolled up just below her knees and a white t-shirt; her hat and coat left on a rock on the river bank. She hasn’t had good luck catching many fish, and Dahyun and Chaeyoung— who are supposed to be helping her —have been goofing around for the past hour, barely paying attention to their canes. Mina is watching them splash water at each other, and she’s about to scold them when she feels something hitting her leg. She looks down and sees a basket full of dirty rags. She picks them up before it drifts away, and when she looks up, she sees Sana.

She is breathless by the side of the river, hands on her knees as she heaves. Mina carefully steps towards the edge, intending to return the basket and go back to her business, but when Sana picks her head up Mina is left stunned. The girl in front of her is beyond beautiful, even when she’s sweaty and with her face blushed. Mina short circuits, she’s left standing there with her mouth agape and the basket hanging from her fingertips. 

“Thank you so much for catching it,” Sana politely bows her head before taking the basket. Mina only blinks, unable to come up with  something coherent . “I’m sorry for troubling you.”

“Don’t worry-”  Loud splashes and yells interrupt them and Mina sighs when she sees Dahyun and Chaeyoung have fallen into the river and are pushing each other . “I should go.” Mina purses her lips and Sana nods, thanking her once again before walking away. 

Mina curses under her breath and stomps towards the others, pulling them up by the ears. 

The sun is setting by the time Sana is done with the laundry. Her whole body hurts as she walks back to the palace; she’s exhausted and can’t wait to take a bath and go to bed. But distracted as she is, she hears something unusual and stops in her tracks. It’s common for bandits to roam the woods, trying to steal from the villagers that walk by. Sana slowly glances around, trying to see if there’s someone dangerous. She hears the sound again— someone stepping on a branch and the shuffling of clothes.  Looking towards that spot, Sana sees a sleeve and the tip of an arrow poking out of a tree. 

Sana ducks behind a fallen trunk and leaves her basket on the ground. Placing a hand over her chest, she can feel how loudly her heart is beating, but she takes a deep breath and tries to come up with a self defense plan. Sana searches for something to use as a weapon, then tiptoes towards the person, careful to step only on the soft ground. 

When the guard tries to find her again, she’s nowhere to be seen, and the forest is oddly quiet. He listens attentively and hears rustling behind a bush. His hands shake as he aims his arrow, the anticipation building only making it worse. But only a rabbit jumps out of the leaves, unbothered by the man. He lowers his weapon with a sigh. Then, he falls unconscious to the ground. 

Sana stands behind him, holding a large rock in her hands. She squeaks and drops the boulder to cover her mouth in shock, but then it falls onto his hand. He doesn’t even groan, now passed out cold in the mud. 

Afraid, alone and tired, Sana starts to cry. She runs away from the man, not looking where she’s going. Her vision is blurry due to the tears, and she eventually falls to her knees, sobbing into her hands.

Now that the sun set, the night brought cold weather and Sana begins to shiver. Something pokes her leg— a gray bunny looking at her with worried eyes. Behind it are more animals; other rabbits, chipmunks and baby deers. Sana wipes her tears and gently pets the bunny. When it cuddles into her touch, Sana smiles. 

Another bunny hops towards her and  noses  her leg, so Sana stands up on shaky legs. The deer comes close as well and nudges her behind, urging her to start walking. Sana complies and lets the animals lead her through the dark woods, feeling comforted by their presence. 

Soon enough a clearing comes into sight. Sana can once again hear the river; the sky above her is shining with stars and, in the distance, Sana sees a house silhouetted by the moonlight. The animals give her one last friendly nudge before they leave her alone. 

Sana walks towards the house, hoping to find someone kind there. The house is small, with white brick walls and red tiles on the roof. The windows are closed and it’s dark inside, but Sana still tries her luck and knocks on the wooden door. She doesn’t get an answer, but the door does swing open with a creak. Part of her knows she shouldn’t intrude in someone else’s house, but she can already feel all the pent up exhaustion weighing down on her body. She glances to her sides, checking that no one is around, and walks in. She can explain it to the owners later.

“Me likey, me likey likey likey, me likey likey likey, dugeun dugeun dugeun!” Six voices sing loudly through the night. Mina, who is walking in front of them all illuminating the way with a lantern, just smiles fondly.

In one hand Mina holds the lantern, and with the other she holds the net full of fish slinged around her shoulder. Jihyo and Nayeon carry piles of firewood and have their axes attached to their belts; Momo and Tzuyu carry heavy bowls of soil for their garden as if they weighed nothing; and Dahyun and Chaeyoung walk at the end of the line, holding another lantern and singing the loudest. 

They didn’t have any luck hunting, but Mina managed to catch enough fish for that night’s dinner. She’s the first to get to the front of their house, but she stops abruptly and everyone else collides into each other. 

“Who was the last one to leave today?” Mina asks as she nervously eyes the unlocked door. Everyone’s heads turn around at the same time and all eyes fall on Dahyun. The girl shrinks into her shoulders and steps to the side to hide behind Chaeyoung. 

Jihyo walks in first, holding her axe threateningly. The others light up the lanterns around the house, and after a thorough search of the first floor they find the house empty and all of their belongings in their place. 

Since everything looks normal, they decide against searching the second floor where their rooms are. Everyone is too hungry to care so they all pile up in the kitchen to start the fire and clean the fish. Mina, however, sneaks upstairs with the intentions of laying down until dinner is ready— after all she’s the one who caught it, she should get to rest now.

She doesn’t bother lighting up the lanterns and goes straight to her bedroom, the one she shares with Momo and Tzuyu. She opens the door and is just about to plop down on the bed when she sees a bulge under the covers. Mina steps back, surprised, and decides to open the window to let light in. Moonlight floods the room, and it so happens that a ray falls perfectly on the face of the person occupying Mina’s bed. 

Her breath gets knocked out of her lungs when she recognizes her to be the girl she met earlier in the river. Even asleep, she looks gorgeous— Mina even feels sorry for almost disrupting her sleep. She tiptoes out of the room and closes the door carefully, then rests her back against it. Maybe she should be more freaked out about the fact that a stranger broke into her home and is in her bed, but the girl seemed too nice for Mina to worry. Besides, she might have gotten lost, or something could’ve happened to her.

For now, she needs to explain it to her friends, and they might not be as understanding. 

Dinner is being served when Mina goes downstairs, and she decides to let everyone enjoy the food before she breaks the news— and besides, she’s pretty hungry herself. 

They devour their meal in no time, only the bones of the fish are left in the kitchen. Momo wipes her mouth with a napkin and stretches back on her chair.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me, my bed is calling me.”

“Wait!” Mina reaches over the table and holds Momo’s wrist to keep her from standing up. Everyone looks at her weird, and Mina takes a deep breath. “You can’t go to the room because… it’s… there’s a girl in my bed.” Mina blurts out, everyone else blinks in confusion.

“You got a girl over?” Dahyun wiggles her eyebrows and Jihyo rolls her eyes.

“Mina, can you explain please?”

“Well,  _ someone  _ left the door open,” Mina looks pointedly at Dahyun, successfully erasing her teasing smile, “and a girl got in. I saw her in the river earlier today, so she might be lost or hurt… but she seemed really nice!” Mina bites her lip, hoping that they won’t try to kick her out. Everyone looks at Jihyo, who pushes her round glasses up her nose as she mulls their options. 

“Do you really think we can trust her?” She asks Mina, who nods quickly despite not being totally sure. She wants to believe she can trust the girl.

“If you guys don’t mind, then I say she can stay.” Jihyo looks around the table, everyone else nods. 

“Where are you gonna sleep, though?” Nayeon asks Mina.

“You can take my bed, I’ll sleep with Dahyun.” Chaeyoung offers.

“Y-you will?” Dahyun stammers.

“It’s settled then.” Jihyo claps her hands and everyone gets up, leaving a flustered Dahyun at the table.

“She’ll sleep with me?”

Jeongyeon taps her foot impatiently, looking out the window of her room. The guard should’ve been back by then, but she had no news of him. Angry and too tired of waiting, she storms towards her vanity and summons the magic mirror. 

“Show me Sana.” She mutters through her teeth, jaw clenched. The smoke inside the mirror swirls and then dissipates to show the girl in the dark. Jeongyeon can’t make out where she is, but she hears other voices whispering near her. She  zooms out and sees a secluded house in the woods. She’ll have to search it later with a map. “Now show me the guard.” The smoke swirls again, and Jeongyeon sees the man with bandages around his head, dried blood in his face and hands, barely managing to stay up as he cries and chugs from a beer glass in a town tavern. 

Jeongyeon fumes, shaking with anger. With her clouded judgment she grabs a box and throws it to the mirror. The box bounces back and Jeongyeon gasps in horror when she realizes what she’s done. The glass didn’t break, but the mirror turned fully black.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” She tries desperately.

She’s met with absolute silence. 

Mina wakes up extra early the next morning. The sun is barely up, but she doesn’t want to risk Sana leaving without an explanation, or getting scared when she wakes up in an unfamiliar place. Dahyun and Chaeyoung are covered all the way up with the comforter, but the bed is so small Mina knows they must be hugging beneath it. She makes a mental note to tease Dahyun about it later.

She opens the door to her own room quietly, and her heart stops when she sees her bed empty. She runs downstairs, hoping to catch Sana before she leaves. Mina ends up sliding on the floor and almost falling when she stops abruptly. Sana is sitting on the kitchen table, munching on a piece of bread. In front of her, Jihyo sips from a mug of tea.

“Good morning, Mina,” The leader greets calmly and smiles. “Mina, this is Sana. Sana, Mina.”

“You’re the girl from the river!” Sana perks up when she recognizes Mina, but she immediately drops her shoulders in shame. “I’m so sorry for bothering you, I thought I would only rest briefly but I fell deeply asleep.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Mina says sheepishly. Her cheeks tinted pink as she drags a chair back and sits next to Jihyo. “I was worried when I found you in my bed… did something happen to you?”

“Sana went through something traumatic,” Jihyo replies instead. “But she’s alright now, safe here with us. She’s not injured, just a bit shaken up.”

Sana purses her lips and nods. Jihyo was already in the kitchen when Sana walked downstairs, scared and ashamed and wanting to leave as soon as possible. But Jihyo was beyond kind, warm and understanding. She offered Sana something to eat and then calmly asked her who she was and why she was in their home. Sana lied about being the princess, she said she was just a maid in the castle— which wasn’t so far from the truth, really. But she did tell Jihyo about the man that she knocked out. She was thankful Jihyo didn’t make her repeat the story nor divulged it, as thinking about it still made Sana uneasy.

“Are you gonna stay with us now?” Mina hopes her tone isn’t too eager. Sana shrugs and looks to Jihyo for an answer. 

“You’re welcome to, if you want. We just have to sort out the sleeping arrangements, but it won’t be a problem.” 

Sana takes a shaky breath and smiles relieved. “I would really appreciate it if I can stay here, at least for a few days until it’s safe to return home.” 

She just hopes no one will miss her too much in the palace.

An hour later, everyone else wakes up and the house fills with booming voices. There’s Nayeon whining about Jihyo leaving her alone and cold, Momo yelling because someone ate the last piece of pie, Chaeyoung yelling that it totally wasn’t her, and then there’s Dahyun, uncharacteristically quiet as she drinks some tea.

Mina meets Sana’s eyes across the room and nods with her head for her to follow her outside. Sana smiles when the warmth of the sun hits her face; that, the good night’s sleep and the food she ate make her feel like a new person. 

“Sorry about that, I know they can be too loud sometimes.”

“I don’t mind…” Silence follows as Mina wonders what else to say. Luckily, Sana speaks first. “Are you guys gonna leave now?”

“Yeah, we have to work. We hunt, fish, lumber and sometimes mine, then we sell everything in the village.” 

“Do you think I can go with you?” Sana asks bashfully, feeling her ears heat up. “I don’t want to be alone...” Her voice is small and it makes Mina’s heart ache. At that moment, Mina thinks there isn’t a thing she could deny Sana.

“Of course, but you might find it tiring. Our days are quite long.”

“I’m used to working all day,” Sana shrugs. She’ll take the forest any day over the palace floors. 

Hours later,  when the sun makes way for the stars , Sana marches back home with Mina and her friends. The song they chant is catchy, Sana claps excitedly when she first hears it and the rest of the girls are happy to see her enjoy it. Sana joins in to sing, her voice matching perfectly with the rest.

Spending the day with Mina had been very fun. While Sana picked berries and some flowers, Mina hunted rabbits and birds with her bow. Sana wasn’t too happy to see it, but she understood it’s what they do for a living. 

Unlike the previous night, the house feels warm now. Nayeon lights up the fireplace and Jihyo offers Sana a bed if she wants to go rest, but she insists on helping them with dinner. With the berries she picked up, Sana puts together a delicious fruit salad that everyone in the house loves. They thank Sana and ask for a second serving, which she’s happy to give them. 

She’s never felt so cared for, never felt like she mattered. But surrounded by these seven girls, despite them being practically strangers, Sana feels the  closest to home she has in a while. 

When it’s time for bed, Mina lingers by the kitchen while everyone heads upstairs. “Sana? You should take my bed tonight.”

Sana bites her lip and thinks about it for a moment. “I don’t know, I already took it last night, I don’t want to bother you. Besides you must be tired from work today.”

“Don’t worry about that, I can take Chaeyoung’s bed. She sleeps with Dahyun.”

“She does?” Dahyun shakily asks from the kitchen where she was gathering the dirty dishes. 

“Yeah! Mina’s right, Sana, I’ll sleep with Dahyun.”

“You will?” Dahyun’s eyes are wide and her eyebrows knit. Mina sees her gulp before Chaeyoung pushes her back into the kitchen to wash the dishes. 

Sana nods and slightly swings on the ball of her feet. “You’ll be here in the morning, right?” 

“Of course,” Mina tilts her head cutely and reaches out to rub Sana’s arm comfortingly. “Thanks for helping me out today.”

“Please, I should be the one thanking you. You’ve been nothing but kind to me.”

“You always deserve kindness,” Mina’s voice is soft, Sana can see worry and sincerity in her eyes. “I shouldn't keep you up, though, we have a long day ahead. Let’s go, I’ll lend you some pajamas.”

Mina walks Sana to her room and gives her a fresh set of clothes. Momo, who’s already in her bed, wiggles her eyebrows at Mina while Sana isn’t looking. Mina blushes deeply and mouths threats at her friend. When she bids Sana goodnight and goes to her room for the night, she can’t stifle her laugh at what she finds.

Dahyun is on her back, arm pressed into the wall with Chaeyoung laying half of her body on top of hers, with her nose nuzzled in Dahyun’s neck. The older girl looks petrified, cheeks as red as her shirt. Mina winks at her friend and makes kissy noises; Dahyun will get mad, but there’s nothing she can do right now with Chaeyoung holding her down.

They wake up to rain the next morning. The day is gray and cold, so Jihyo— who always rises first, sometimes before the sun itself —prepares hot chocolate for everyone. Sana feels giddy like a little kid. Momo gives everyone a fluffy blanket and they sit around the small living area. They all tell Sana a bit more about themselves, and Sana does her best to tell them some without mentioning her title or her step mother. 

The rain stops in the midst of their chat, but neither is too excited about going to work. Today they have to go to town to sell the things they collected over the week. Mina asks Sana if she wants to come with, but she knows some people might still recognize her as the princess, so she declines Mina’s offers and says she’ll stay and clean around the house. No one complains— with how busy they always are, the house has become a bit of a mess.

Still, Sana doesn’t want to be alone, so she asks Chaeyoung to stay back with her. The girl agrees immediately, happy to be able to stay at home instead of going to town. 

Sana helps everyone get ready to leave and insist they bring warm enough coats with them. When she goes to make sure Mina won’t be cold, she sees the girl is taking her bow and arrows with her. 

“Are you planning to shoot someone?” Sana jokes as she fixes the lapels of Mina’s jacket. 

Mina giggles and tries to act cool despite being so nervous around Sana. “It needs some maintenance, maybe a new string. And I need to buy new tips for these,” Mina motions to the arrows in her bag. 

“Be careful, then.”

“You too.”

“Time to go!” Jihyo yells from outside, so Sana sends Mina on her way. 

True to her word, Sana asks Chaeyoung for cleaning supplies— at first Chaeyoung doesn’t know where they keep those, or even if they have them, but she finds them in a small closet under the stairs. Sana mops the floor and dusts the shelves while Chaeyoung tidies everything they have lying around. Sana even makes the beds and picks up dirty clothes to wash them. While Chaeyoung tidies the kitchen shelves, Sana goes to the well behind the house to gather some water for the clothes. 

It crosses her mind that two days ago she was in a very similar situation, carrying dirty clothes to wash them. But so much changed in barely a few hours; she’s felt better with these strangers in days than with her own step mother in years. 

Sana thinks about it as she pulls the bucket up from the bottom of the well, zoned out.

“Help! Oh, dear, please help me,” A strange voice reaches Sana’s ears and she drops the bucket to search for it. Coming out of the woods is an old woman, wearing a black cloak. She walks with a cane and has a hunch. Sana hurries to help her, worried. 

“Are you alright?”

“Please help me…” The woman coughs and stumbles. Sana steadies her and tries to walk her towards the house, but the woman won’t move. 

“Chaeyoung! Help me!” Sana yells and the woman tenses up. She had seen everyone leave, she thought Sana was alone. She hears the door open and footsteps— she needs to act quickly. 

The woman straightens up and pushes Sana away. Sana stumbles and looks at the woman confused. Before Sana can react, the woman takes a dagger from her robes and stabs Sana in the stomach. Sana falls to her knees and holds her hands against her bleeding wound. 

Chaeyoung arrives to see Sana groaning on the floor, and in front of her, an odd woman holding a bloody dagger.

“Sana!” Chaeyoung yells, horrified. She runs towards Sana, whose hands are now covered in red. The woman laughs wickedly and removes her hood. Her back and face shift with horrid sounds of bones breaking, and green mist leaves her body. Sana looks up with teary eyes and she feels her stomach drop when she sees her step mother in front of her. 

“You should’ve known better, Sana. Running away from me? How foolish of you. Now you got what you deserved, and I will get my rightful title as the fairest one of all.” 

“How could you?” Sana asks through clenched teeth. Chaeyoung doesn’t understand anything, and she certainly doesn’t care that the queen is in front of her; all she wants is to help Sana. She grabs a stone from the ground and attacks the woman with it, but she’s frozen in her spot. Jeongyeon has one hand lifted towards her and an uninterested look on her face. 

“I’m feeling merciful today, so I’ll let you live…” She eyes Chaeyoung up and down and shrugs. “You can stay here and watch this one die.” Jeongyeon kicks Sana down and runs away. Only once she’s out of sight does Chaeyoung regain control over her body. She lets the stone fall out of her grasp and runs to aid Sana.

“Press down on the wound, please Sana, you have to resist.” Chaeyoung picks Sana up by her neck and the back of her thighs. Sana groans at the movement, but Chaeyoung can’t leave her there. 

But she’s not very strong, she barely reaches the door before she stumbles and falls back on her butt. Sana isn’t screaming, but her face is wet with tears and she looks paler than normal. “Please Sana, open your eyes, please.” Chaeyoung grabs Sana’s cheek, watching as her eyes flutter. Chaeyoung cries, too, desperate and hopeless. 

“Chaeyoung!” The girl whips her head up when she hears Nayeon’s loud voice. Everyone returned from town and are now rushing towards them. “What happened?”

Mina pushes past everyone and kneels down next to Sana. The girl turns her head to look at Mina, although her vision is blurry and she feels too cold. 

“A w-woman was here, the queen! The queen stabbed Sana, I don’t know why, but she-” Chaeyoung explains through her sobs.

“Where is she?” There’s fire inside of Mina’s eyes as she asks the question. Her touch on Sana’s face is soft, but her other hand holds her bow with a death grip. 

“She left through the forest.”

Chaeyoung barely finishes the sentence before Mina springs to her feet and runs towards the wicked queen. Momo lifts Sana up and everyone rushes inside to tend to her wound. Jihyo washes her hands frantically while Nayeon looks for bandages and alcohol. Momo sets Sana on the kitchen table and leaves her in Jihyo and Nayeon’s hands. Everyone else waits outside, worried about Sana and Mina. 

Mina sprints through the trees, dodging branches with ease. She found a trail not too deep into the forest, and she hopes it will lead her to the woman that dared hurt Sana. Mina reaches a dead end, a rocky mountain, but before she turns around she looks up and sees the queen climbing. Mina slings her bow on her shoulders and starts to climb as well, catching up with surprising speed.

She reaches the top, and the queen is standing on the edge of a cliff. She looks scared, cornered with no way out. But her scared face turns into an angry one quickly and with her powers she freezes Mina, who was already setting an arrow in her bow.

“Why are you so dumb to think you can beat me? Why are you risking yourself like this, all for that good for nothing girl?” Mina tries to fight the magic, ignoring the way her muscles ache. “You’ll never defeat me, and you’ll never save her!” Jeongyeon laughs, throwing her head back. Mina clenches her jaw and, miraculously, breaks free from the spell. She swiftly stretches the bow string and in a blink, sends an arrow directly into the queen’s throat. 

Queen Jeongyeon falls from the cliff, and Mina exhales in relief. 

Mina pushes past the kitchen door and finds Nayeon finishing wrapping Sana’s torso with the bandages. 

“How is she?” Mina grabs Sana’s limp hand from the table and caresses her cold cheek. 

“She lost a lot of blood, but we managed to close the wound and we think she’ll be fine.” 

Sana squeezes Mina’s hand weakly, her eyes still closed, but Mina still sighs in relief and leans in to kiss her forehead.

That night Mina and Sana switch rooms with Dahyun and Chaeyoung. The girls still share a bed, Mina’s, while the other two sleep in the smaller room. Mina brings the beds closer so she can keep an eye out for Sana throughout the night. 

Nayeon and Jihyo did a great job, because the next morning, Sana wakes up. She’s still in pain and scared, but she’s able to sit up on the bed and eat a few spoonfuls of the oatmeal Mina feeds her. 

“Aren’t you gonna ask why the queen came to assassinate me?” Sana asks that afternoon, taking sips of the tea Mina prepared for her. Mina shakes her head and touches Sana’s hair tenderly.

“You’re gonna tell me if you want, when you’re ready. Right now all I want is for you to heal.”

Sana’s lip trembles and she starts to cry. “Hey, no, I’m sorry.” Mina wipes her tears and bites her lip, guilty for upsetting Sana.

“It’s just… a lot.” Sana lets out a shaky breath. She holds Mina’s hands and smiles through her tears. “Thank you, so much… I can never repay everything you’ve done for me.”

“I’ll always be here for you, Sana.” Mina kisses her forehead and rubs her red cheeks. “Now try to get some rest, alright?” Sana nods and Mina stands up to leave. “When you get better, we need to go shop for a new bed.” Mina smiles at her from the door and Sana smiles, wide and bright. Mina loves her smile. 

“You’ll be here when I wake up, right?” Sana’s voice is shy as she asks. 

Mina nods and shows her gummy smile. “Always.”


End file.
